A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Equality
100 years ago, on August 18, 1920, a century and a half after the founders wrote that "All Men Are Created Equal," the 19th Amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote was assured passage when Tennessee's legislature became the 36th in the nation to approve it.
It was far from a sure thing.
Continued...
The pro-suffragists wore yellow roses on their lapels, the anti-suffragists wore red ones, and it looked like the reds were going to win. Until...
Harry T. Burn
...the legislators squared off for the third roll call.
A blatant red rose on his breast, Harry Burn—[at 25] the youngest member of the legislature—suddenly broke the deadlock. Despite his red rose, he voted in favor of the bill and the house erupted into pandemonium. With his "yea," Burn had delivered universal suffrage to all American women.
The outraged opponents to the bill began chasing Representative Burn around the room. In order to escape the angry mob, Burn climbed out one of the third-floor windows of the Capitol. Making his way along a ledge, he was able to save himself by hiding in the Capitol attic.
The sore losers were, naturally, the forebears of modern-day Republicans. And what prompted Burn to vote for progress? A letter:
Febb Burn
Dear Son:
Hurrah and vote for suffrage! Don't keep them in doubt!
I notice some of the speeches against. They were bitter.
I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet.
Don't forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the "rat" in ratification.
Your mother
Mom always did know best. And the rest, as they say, is history.
And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Note: Due to a clerical error, you now owe me $14,000. But we'll settle for half and forget this ever happened. —Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
11 weeks
Weeks 'til the general election: 11
Number of Americans tested for coronavirus each day this month on average, down from nearly 750,000 in July, according to the COVID Tracking Project: 733,000
Support for Biden-Harris and Trump-Pence, respectively, among Hispanic voters according to the latest YouGov/CBS News poll: 72%-24%
Percent of Democrats polled by Morning Consult who say the selection of Sen. Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate makes them feel hopeful: 88%
Percent of Republicans in the same poll who admit Harris's selection worries them: 45%
Number of the six New England states that are in WalletHub's top ten list of the best states in the U.S. to have a baby, based on factors like hospital delivery charges, maternal mortality rates, infant care costs and pediatricians per capita: 6
Number of states in the bottom 10 that aren't in the deep south: 1 (Nevada)
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Mobile Treat Delivery Service delivers…
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CHEERS to Night 1. Look, it's not the same. It's just not. Without the crowds and the noise and the swarming journalists and the late-night comedians on site, it's just not the same. Don’t get me wrong, it was fine. Perfectly fine. Certainly better than anything the Republicans can hope to deliver. The speechwriters did their jobs faithfully, the speakers delivered their words with pluck and vigah, and Twitter went appropriately twittery in response. And now we move on to Night Two:
Former US Attorney General Sally Yates
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Former Secretary of State John Kerry
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Tonight AOC gets her…..um…...1 minute.
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)
Former President Bill Clinton
Dr. Jill Biden
And it'll be….fine. Perfectly fine.
P.S. But everyone in the universe agrees: this was the kill shot of the night…
Oh, the welt that’s gonna leave.
CHEERS to a day of ballot-to-ballot combat. Yeaahhhhhh!!! Now this is the real excitement today: actual voting. It's primary day in three states, and believe me, bub, by the time it's over there's gonna be plenty of teeth on the floor in Florida, Alaska, and Wyoming. Keep your eye on Daily Kos all night, as our world-famous Elections Team HQ will be a flurry of carrier pigeons with up-to-the minute results amid clouds of birdseed, cigar smoke, and Cheeto dust. And on top of it all, there won’t be a single problem with voter or mail fraud. Hmm…fancy that.
JEERS to Captain Hypocrite. Vote-by-mail for me but not for thee. That's the official position of the Trump administration, the entirety of which is voting by mail this year while doing everything it can to prevent anyone else from doing the same because when commoners do it, it's riddled with fraud. Except…wait a minute, what's this? Why, it looks like a total about-face on vote-by-mail by the Trump campaign:
[T]he last thing John Herter expected to receive in the mail Saturday was an absentee ballot request form with President Donald Trump's face on it. … Herter, of Lincoln County is among a group of voters in North Carolina to receive the mailer over the past few days after Trump said that he opposed crucial USPS funding because he doesn't want to see it used for mail-in voting this November. […]
Gasp.
"The irony is very thick and definitely not lost on me," Carranza told CNN. "Trump has been saying mail-in ballots will bring fraud to the election but absentee ballots are legit. Which is it? It can't be both ways. I laughed because if the campaign actually took information from other times they have reached out to me, they'd know I won't vote for Trump despite being a registered Republican." […]
The mailer was sent out by the North Carolina Republican Party, press secretary Tim Wigginton told CNN. The state party has sent several statewide mailers "to make it easier for interested voters to participate," Wigginton said.
Well, golly. If all the Republicans are gonna hog the postal service, I say Democrats should be considerate and let them. Team D should vote entirely in-person at polling places, or hand-deliver your absentee ballot to the proper authorities good 'n early. Carry on, GOP. You're doin' a heckuva job.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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JEERS to shoveling, shoveling, and more shoveling. The New Hampshire-based tree bark readers at the Old Farmer's Almanac are out with their winter forecast—their 229th if you believe what you read in the Old Farmer's Almanac. You can check out your region's outlook here. Up here in Ndew England—which is neither new nor England—it looks like we may be forced to wear long pants in a few months:
“It’s Snow Time!” Get excited, folks in the Northeast! We can’t spill the beans on the entire forecast, but snow lovers should be very excited!
Yes! Yes I am, you horrible sarcastic beast.
Cold is to be expected during winter, but this coming one will be colder than normal in the northern part of the region and not quite so cold in the south.
Also in the forecast: a 100% chance of idiots shouting "Global cooling!" at the sighting of the first snowflake. (Take your heart pills, Senator Inhofe—you know how excited you get.)
JEERS to activist judges. 328 years ago this week, in 1692, four innocent men and an innocent woman were hanged on Gallows Hill for "practicing witchcraft" in Salem, Massachusetts. To this day Dick Cheney is still outraged by what happened back then. He doesn’t think they were waterboarded nearly long enough.
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Ten years ago in C&J: August 18, 2010
JEERS to the Big Wait. Latest on the Deepwater Horizon gusher in the gulf is: they can't finish plugging the hole yet because plugging the hole might lead to more holes in need of plugging. So they're doing more testing. Multiple choice, we hope, because essay questions are a bitch.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the Lady from Plains. Happy birthday to former First Lady and always-amazing human being Rosalynn Carter, who gets 93 candles on her cake tomorrow. A few years back, the Atlanta Journal Constitution interviewed her as she approached her 90th:
“I’ve had a great life,” Carter said in her office at the Carter Center in Atlanta, where large windows afford a view of the grounds and the shelves are filled with books and photos.
Don’t forget to give Ros a pinch to grow an inch, Jimmy.
“I’ve watched my family grow, I’ve traveled around the world and I’ve had a chance to contribute some, I think.” […]
Yet nothing may top what she describes as her most memorable birthday.
“My staff gave me a ride in the Goodyear Blimp,” Carter recalled near the end of the interview. “They had to draw straws for who would go with me because we couldn’t get everybody in. I had a great birthday!”
That was her 51st birthday, her second one in the White House.
And how nice that her POTUS husband of seventy-four-freaking-years-are-you-kidding-me is still cancer-free after that terrible scare a few years back so they can enjoy their usual birthday tradition today by stealing a Harley and going on a multi-state bank robbing spree with Jimmy in the sidecar and Lord help anyone who gets in their way. Kids these days…
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
"Anyway you can get rid of Bill in Portland Maine, please do so."
—Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
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